If you’re a junior or senior year high school student and you’re considering coming to Oberlin, there’s a good chance that you’re interested in studying music. You may be considering applying to Oberlin’s conservatory program, whether to study an instrument, classical or jazz composition, or maybe even to enter Oberlin’s electronic music program, TIMARA. But if you’re not planning on applying to the conservatory, you might be wondering about what opportunities to study, perform or enjoy music will present themselves.
Fear not – I was in your place once. Even though I’m not a conservatory student, when I decided to come to Oberlin, I knew I’d get all sorts of opportunities to stay involved in music. I just didn’t really know what those opportunities would be. And now, having finished my fifth semester at Oberlin, I thought I’d take the time to catalog the various musical opportunities I’ve had.
To begin with: when I was in middle school and high school, I sang in my school choir. I was unsurprised when I came to Oberlin and discovered that there’s a choir here – but I was a little more surprised when I found out there are actually two. The College Choir consists of voice majors, as well as a number of other interested college and conservatory students. They usually perform two concerts per semester. The other choir here, Musical Union, consists of both Oberlin students and members of the broader Oberlin community.
My first semester here, I decided to try singing in Musical Union. I almost didn’t go to the first rehearsal – I can’t remember why, but I do remember I had something really trivial to do that night. I remember sitting on the swingset on the south side of Finney Chapel, trying to decide what I was going to do, and eventually, I made up my mind and wandered into rehearsal. Three months later, I sang Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at Carnegie Hall, in a private concert for the United Nations.
I’m not kidding. And we went back six weeks later. Since then, I’ve been in either Musical Union or College Choir every single semester (except for one semester when I had classes that conflicted with both). Both of them are officially sponsored by Oberlin – you can even sing in them for credit!
Aside from ensembles run by Oberlin, like Musical Union, there are myriads of student-run musical organizations. For instance: the Video Game Cover Collective, an orchestra that plays student-arranged video game music. The Now Chorale, a student-run choir that sings contemporary choral music – I’m a founding member, and I’m lucky enough to have had a piece premiered by them. Musikos, a musical collective that organizes everything from concerts of new music to electronic music-accompanied immersive stargazing events. And, lest I forget: Oberlin’s many, many a cappella groups. So many a cappella groups.
I mention the a cappella groups because I’m in one. I joined the Obertones at the beginning of my second year here, as a bass/baritone. We sing all kinds of music, and everything we sing is carefully arranged by someone in the group. It’s really no surprise that, after three semesters with the Obertones, I have a Spotify playlist of forty-plus songs I want to arrange and perform with them. We go on tour to a different part of the United States every spring break. (Last year, we went to the northeast. Counting my concerts with Musical Union, I’ve now been to New York City three times, and every time, it’s been with a group of singers!)
As you can probably tell at this point, there are a cornucopia of musical opportunities at Oberlin, even for non-conservatory students. Not only are there plenty of school-sponsored ensembles to join and concerts to see, if you want to join an a cappella group or play video game music, or if you have a big idea for a concert you want to put on or a type of music you want to play, there are definitely people at Oberlin interested in doing that with you.
